The files consist of materials produced or accumulated by Lissy, his predecessor Roger Semerad, and Lissy's staff assistant William Diefenderfer. The collection concerns their work on issues in the areas of education, labor, veterans affairs, and civil service. It also documents Lissy's major role in White House liaison with Jewish Americans.

QUANTITY
18.8 linear feet (ca. 37,600 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-15, 77-25)

ACCESS
Open. Some items are temporarily restricted under terms of the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, or under National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Paul Conway, March 1982
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

David H. Lissy

December 16, 1943 - Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1961-65 - Student, University of Pennsylvania

1965-68 - Student, University of Pennsylvania Law School

1968-69 - Law Clerk, Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia

1969-70 - Staff Assistant to the President

1970-72 - Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Management

1972-73 - Special Assistant to Secretary of State William P. Rogers

Sept. 1975-Jan. 1977 - Associate Director of the Domestic Council for Education, Labor and Veterans

Lissy joined the Domestic Council in September 1975 as Associate Director where he assumed Roger Semerad's responsibilities for labor, veterans and education issues, along with his active files. In this capacity, he monitored legislation in the Congress, drafted presidential statements, and prepared briefing papers and memoranda for the President and Domestic Council staff. Lissy worked closely with the Departments of Labor and HEW as well as the Veterans Administration, and frequently met with labor representatives and groups of educators or veterans. In January 1976, when F. Lynn May's duties changed, Lissy assumed his responsibilities for Civil Service Commission issues and May's active files.

In June 1976, Lissy transferred to the White House Office payroll under presidential domestic policy adviser and Domestic Council executive director James Cannon. Freed from Hatch Act limitations on federal employees' political activity, he concentrated on the Jewish vote for President Ford's reelection campaign. Tapping his extensive contacts within the Jewish community, he arranged meetings between Jewish groups and the President or administration officials, prepared position papers, statements and status reports, and carried out such routine tasks as photo requests and mass mailings. Throughout this period, he continued to oversee education, labor, veterans and civil service for the Domestic Council. At the end of the Ford administration he accepted a position with United Brands Corporation and then with Gulf and Western Corporation.

The Lissy files consist largely of material produced or accumulated by Roger Semerad and David Lissy on labor, education and veterans issues; by F. Lynn May and Lissy on civil service issues; and by Lissy in his position as special assistant to the President handling Jewish issues. Lissy and Semerad's review of legislation before the Congress on labor, education and veterans issues is well documented, including veto and signing statements of administration policy. However, evidence of close interaction with congressional committee staff is not strong. More than many Domestic Council staff files, the Lissy files document Semerad and Lissy's contacts with business and government officials, union representatives and educators. This interest group contact is a strong part of Lissy and May's files of civil service issues and especially of Lissy's files of Jewish concerns.

Although Lissy served in the White House until the end of the Ford administration, the files do not fully document his activities after the November election. Both Lissy and Semerad referred much correspondence from individuals and groups to appropriate departments for direct response. There is little evidence of personal follow-up. Most materials produced by Lissy's assistant William Diefenderfer were forwarded to other Domestic Council staff or integrated into the appropriate Lissy subject files. The Diefenderfer subject files are essentially miscellaneous items not integrated into the filing system.

Related Materials
(March 1982)
Materials related to Semerad's and Lissy's responsibilities are located in other Domestic Council staff files, especially those of James Cannon, and in the White House Central Files subject file. F. Lynn May's Domestic Council files contain no information on civil service issues, as he passed those materials to Lissy. A separate collection (ca. 1 linear foot) of Roger Semerad's papers, consisting largely of correspondence and speeches, was donated to the Ford Library in 1980.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Education Files, 1974-76.
(Boxes 1-15, 6.0 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, reports, printed materials and other material produced or accumulated primarily by Lissy, but also by his predecessor Roger Semerad, on the broad spectrum of education issues before the Domestic Council. Included is information on administration programs for secondary and higher education, particularly interagency follow-up on President Ford's proposals for work and education; busing, affirmative action, the title IX controversy and similar minority education issues; and federal funding of education, especially the administration's education block grant proposals.

Labor Files, 1974-76.
(Boxes 16-31, 6.2 linear feet)
Memoranda and correspondence with Labor Department officials, labor union and management groups and others; draft legislation; reports, articles, clippings and other printed material. A large portion of the files documents Lissy's and Semerad's monitoring of labor issues before the Congress, especially common situs legislation, extension of CETA funding, pension reform bills and public works employment legislation, including several controversial Ford vetoes. Also included is information on other labor issues, including OSHA regulations and manpower policy.

Veterans Files, 1974-76.
(Boxes 31-35, 1.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence and referrals exchanged between Lissy or Semerad and the Veterans Administration, veterans groups and lobbying organizations on legislation affecting veterans, including pension reform, the GI bill, and health care; briefing papers, talking points and other items on meetings between veterans groups or the VA administrator and the President or Domestic Council staff; reports, articles and other materials on veterans affairs of concern to the White House.

Civil Service Commission Files, 1974-76.
(Boxes 36-38, 1.0 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, reports and other material produced or accumulated primarily by F. Lynn May, but also by his successor, David Lissy. Topics include legislation on federal pay, labor management, and federal employee political activities as well as information on federal job classification and top level appointments policy.

Jewish Affairs Files, 1976.
(Boxes 38-43, 2.0 linear feet)
Correspondence, memoranda, briefing papers, lists, printed items and other materials exchanged between David Lissy and prominent Jewish leaders, lobbying groups, and community organizations documenting Lissy's role as special assistant responsible for courting the Jewish vote. Included is information on the White House response to the Arab boycott of U.S. firms doing business with Israel, meetings between the President and Jewish groups, and draft presidential statements and messages on issues of concern to the Jewish community, as well as such routine duties as mass mailings of administration position papers and photographs.

General Subject Files, 1974-76.
(Boxes 43-46, 1.2 linear feet)
Memoranda, reports, draft statements, briefing papers and other materials on miscellaneous topics not directly within Lissy's areas of responsibility, or on Lissy's and Semerad's activities that crossed multiple subject areas, including preparing Q&A's or briefing papers for the President and Vice President, and gathering information for portions of the state of the union addresses.

William Diefenderfer Subject Files, 1976. (Box 47, 0.2 linear feet)
Random files of memoranda, correspondence and reports form Diefenderfer's service as assistant to Lissy in the latter half of 1976. Most Diefenderfer materials were sent to other Domestic Council staff or the White House central files.